The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

Special Report

(Page 2 of 2)

And then of course there's that other kind of power that we'll finally name -- "nuclear." The truth is, the Bush administration is doing an excellent job of promoting a nuclear revival. The 2005 Energy Act offers a 1.8-cents-per-kilowatt tax credit for the first 6,000 megawatts of nuclear power constructed in the next few years. Companies are already lining up at the gate. We'll probably see serious new proposals this year. The 1.8-cents credit is the same now being given to windmills -- which is why you see these practically useless monstrosities cropping up on every hilltop. At least the money for nuclear will be well spent.

And once we have a revived nuclear sector in place, substitutes for oil do become possible. Electric hybrids seem workable -- it's just that you need a lot more electricity to run them. Hydrogen also has some possibilities -- you just need some way of generating it. Hydrogen isn't sitting around waiting to be harvested. It has to be manufactured -- with electricity.

What we really need is for the words "nuclear power" to become a subject fit for polite conversation. As it is, somebody just shouts "Chernobyl" or "Three Mile Island" and everyone flees the room.

I'm just finishing the last draft of a book designed to do just that. It's called Terrestrial Energy: How a Nuclear-Solar Alliance Can Rescue the Planet. If all goes well, it will be out next winter -- just in time for President Bush to pronounce the words "nuclear power" in his last State of the Union Message.

topics:
Trade, John McCain, Environment, Global Warming, Law, Russia, NATO, Energy, Oil